Whenever there is a major crime against humanity or a crime done by a religious group we often think of how bad the acts have been and look at who to blame, we are rarely looking at what positive impacts that set acts have had in the aftermath of the action. In this paper I will look at what Boko Haram have done in Nigeria, and what kind of positive impacts that have risen in the aftermath as well as their search for national identity. Nigeria is a constitutional republic in West Africa. The majority of its citizens are Muslim (50.5%) and Christians (48.2%), the rest belongs to other smaller local religions. Because of this major diversity in the religious viewpoints many of the citizens in the Nigeria does not identify themselves as people
After this attack Boko Haram regularly targeted law enforcement, religious groups and government buildings that went against their own believes. Weirdly enough, the members of Boko Haram see themselves as someone who is seeking redress and never as the wrong-doers. The “trademark” that Boko Haram have when it comes to the way that they attack religious leaders (both Muslims and Christians), law enforcement, the people, etc. have been gunmen on motorcycles and bombings. As a result of the killing of their leader Muhammad Yusuf in 2009 Boko Haram amped up their attacks both in frequency and in severity. From 2009 to present day, Boko Haram have single handedly killed over a thousand innocent people and property worth over a million naira (around 5000 USD) according to Salaam. Considering that the average income in Nigeria (monthly) for surviving is 135.000 Naira (Around 678 USD) a million naira is a lot. According to Salaam Boko Haram’s attacks included these places in Nigeria: Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Plateau, and Yobe, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. (Salaam 2012). The types of attacks that is more prominent and gets more attention in the media is the kidnapping of students, mainly from the girl schools in Northern
The Puritans were a religious group of early American settlers. ISIS, or the Islamic State, ISIL, or the Daesh, is a militant group of religious extremists in Iraq and Syria. It may seem odd to compare the Puritans to the Islamic State, but both shared religious ideologies that led to horrible atrocities committed in the name of their respective god. Both the Islamic State and the Puritans are groups that use or used their divine status as an excuse to dehumanizing, torture, and kill innocent people without emotion or regret. This paper will show that both groups shared similar behaviors that ultimately led to great atrocities being committed by the groups as a whole and by their members.
"Untouchability in Nigeria | International Humanist and Ethical Union." International Humanist and Ethical Union | The World Union of Humanist Organizations. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. .
Terrorist organizations in Somalia, located within the Horn of Africa, present a current threat to the region and to United States (U.S.) interests. This paper will address the implication of a terrorist network within Somalia by analyzing the actions and motivations of Al-Shabab, the Somali Government, and the United States. Al-Shabab is gathering support by using religion, undermining the Somali Government, and by providing jobs and opportunities for the people of Somalia. If Al-Shabab continues growing in power it could lead to more extreme terrorists attacks in Somalia and the region.
The acts of violence that were performed by rebels in Africa were horrific. Adults and children were murdered, mutilated, tortured, and raped. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone performed despicable acts of cutting off a people's body parts with machetes to instill fear in the community. If you were working in the diamond mines and not performing up to the standards of the rebels you would lose a body part as punishment. Rebels would continue to do this from one village to another in order “to take control of the mines in the area” (Hoyt). It is estimated that in Sierra Leone that over 20,000 people suffered mutilation. The acts that the rebels performed to these innocent victims was clearly a violation to their human rights. The RUF collected 125 million a year to fund their war on the government and the people of Sierra Leone.
...at shocked me through all these articles is how there weren’t a single positive story about Nigeria. I had to get to the third page before I found something that was “kind of positive” about Nigeria. These definitely illustrate what the speaker was saying about single stories. Also 8 out of 10 stories where related to Boko haram. Therefore it won’t be a surprise for me to hear that people believe that Boko haram is the daily cup of tea. I didn’t really found anything that was directly related to the chapter because most of the stories were about BOKO haram crisis. The only thing that I found related to the chapter was how the Biafra war that has opposed the three major’s ethnics groups: Yoruba, Igbo and Hausas is still reflecting on the actual Nigerian crisis. In the north were these crisis are occurring, only certain ethnic groups or religious groups are attacked.
Extremism manifests itself dangerously in the Islam religion (Palmer, Monte, and Princess Palmer, 37). The Muslim religion has some laws and believes that no one should question their design, origin or application. Good people should punish immoral people in Islam religion without showing mercy to them. In Islam, human beings have no right to offer forgiveness to others that can easily lead to and create peace to oneself in the society. The unforgiving nature makes human rights groups in many ways try to change and support governments that try to overthrow Muslim extremist governments. Such an approach creates a war never ending between the Muslim governments and other governments that fight the extremist ideals. In East Africa, Somalia presents a case example by observing how the Government is not able to control the ever fighting and dreadful Al-Shabaab. The “Al-Shabaab” is an Arab name for Muslim youth who over the years try to use enforce extremist rulers in governing the country and hence controlling the resources. Muslim fighters and rebels arm themselves with arsenals they use to fight groups that oppose them by killing and torturing them. The al-Shabaab launches attacks that kill people and openly claim responsibility for the losses and the deaths they cause. They also punish members who commit sin using the retrogressive laws of the Quran on the people they label sinners. Other extremist
...’s depictions of both traditional and modern beliefs in varying degrees illustrate the importance of both in contemporary Nigerian culture, as well as the greater Africa as a whole, and how both are intertwined and cannot exist without the other. In effect, she skillfully subverts stereotypes or single perceptions of Africa as backward and traditional, proving instead, the multifaceted culture of Africa. She further illustrates that neither traditional African nor western culture is necessarily detrimental. It is the stark contrast of the fundamental cultures that inevitably leads to clashes and disagreements. In the end, what holds African countries such as Nigeria together is their shared pride. Modern, western influences can bring positive changes to society, but new cultures cannot completely eradicate the foundational cultures to which a society is founded on.
To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
Oghre, Ben. “Nigeria’s Population Is A Silent Killer .” Nigerians of America. N.p., 30 Sept. 2007. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. .
In 2013, Boko Haram kidnapped a french family in Cameroon. They wanting to kidnap this french family was to have Nigeria and Cameroon release their jailed members. A french priest was kidnapped from his church about seven miles from Nigeria and a canadian nun was kidnapped as well (“What does the tactic of foreign kidnappings tell us about Boko Haram?”). A major attack with Boko Haram was kidnapping a group of school girls. According to the Nigerian authorities, as recently as 2014, updated the number of girls kidnapped to 276. At least 53 of the girls escaped, leaving 233 in the hands of their captors (Simpson). Boko Haram has had many attacks and killings dealing with schools, churches, businesses, and etc
Nearly 50 percent of the country's population are women. Within Nigeria there are about 250 different ethnic groups that speak nearly 4000 dialects. Its religions are: Islam (50%), Christianity (40%) and traditional beliefs (10%). Ethnic problems have been common among the various tribal groups. Also, religious unrest has been seen between northern and southern regions of
The Boko Haram, primary perpetrator of the Christians, have been in existence since 2002 but as of around 2009 they took a more aggressive approach towards persecuting Christians. Their focus is to create a separate Islamic state in which they can implement Sharia law. They originated in the North where most Muslims in Nigeria reside, while Christians predominantly live in the South. After President Goodluck Jonathan won the presidential election in 2010, Muslims feared they’d fall off in terms of political power and attacks increased. Schools and children have been attacked for their association with western customs like education, freedom, and anything that benefits Christian . As a matter of fact, Boko Haram means “Western education is a sin”(Koopman). Late in 2010 they bombed churches on Christmas killing at least 32 people. Bombings and killing sprees continued through 2011-2013. In August of 2013, Abubakar Shekau was reported killed by the Nigerian military. Very soon after this, Nigeria’s defense minister also reported that the Boko Haram’s second-in-command, Momudu Bama, kil...
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
The culture of Nigeria is multi-ethnic and consists of three large ethnic groups. These groups are the Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, and the Igbo. The people of Nigeria still hold their traditional languages, music, and dance closely and may differ from ethnic group to ethnic group. Although English is considered to be Nigeria’s official language, only fifty percent of the population can speak it. This is contributed to the fact of the different amount of tribes, and generally, every tribe has its own language (Boomie).
Nigerian culture is as multi-ethnic as the people in Nigeria. The people of Nigeria still cherish their traditional languages, music, dance and literature. Nigeria comprises of three large ethnic groups, which are Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and Igbo.